Solstice Tonight

Daylight slips from the forest first
but lingers over the frozen lake
like a kerosene lamp dampened,
its waning flame reflecting
cobalt across the canvas taut
with snow.  A gloaming snuffed out
on a last turn of the blue planet
as it tilts back toward summer,
a gyroscopic toy of the gods spinning
a bowline through the heavens.


Marilyn Aschoff Mellor